'Cruz is going down': Donald Trump celebrates new Iowa poll

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump got some great news on Thursday
afternoon in the form of
a new CNN/ORC poll showing him pulling ahead in Iowa.

That survey showed him leading his top rival, US Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-Texas), 37% to 26%, among likely Iowa caucus-goers.

But the CNN poll was apparently too recent for Trump to tout at a
Thursday rally in Las Vegas, Nevada. Instead, Trump boasted about
his results in another recent Iowa poll, from Emerson
College, that found him beating Cruz 33% to 23%.

After Trump heralded another survey, from North Carolina, the
Republican front-runner said Cruz was tanking in the 2016 race.

"Cruz is going down," Trump exclaimed. "He's going down. No, he's
having a hard time. He looks like a nervous wreck. He's going
down. He had his moment. He had his moment. He had his moment,
and he blew it."

Cruz had surged in recent weeks to roughly tie Trump in Iowa, the
first state to weigh in on the Republican race. But two
other recent polls showed the February 1 caucus as still neck
and neck.

The CNN Iowa poll also had good news for Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Florida), who ticked up three points since the previous month
and placed third at 14%. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson,
who briefly led in some Iowa polls in October, has dropped
from 16% to 6% since the previous month.